Disc brakes are widely used for braking applications in automobiles. A disc brake generally includes a caliper and a rotor. A style of caliper may be an opposed piston caliper. An opposed piston caliper generally includes opposing pistons within opposing piston bores facing opposing surfaces of the rotor. Typically, the opposing pistons are placed so that one or more inner pistons face an inner surface of a rotor and one or more outer pistons face an outer surface of the rotor. Upon actuation, the pistons move toward the rotor, thus squeezing brake pads against the rotor to create a braking force to either slow or stop rotation of the rotor. Although opposing pistons may be advantageous in providing a stable braking force, some opposed piston calipers may present problems with vibrations. The vibrations may result in brake squeal, which may audibly resonate within an interior of a vehicle.
Examples of attempts to reduce vibrations may be found in US2011/0308900, WO2015/113693, DE19505000, and EP0455299; all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Notwithstanding the above, there appears to be an absence of a mass damper able to reside within an interior of a caliper housing to dampen vibrations of the caliper housing.
It would be desirable to have a mass damper capable of damping vibrations occurring within a caliper housing. It would be attractive to have a mass damper capable of damping and/or preventing low frequency vibrations between 0 kHz and 14 kHz, which have a tendency to produce audible brake squeal. It would be desirable to have a mass damper residing with an interior of a caliper housing to avoid physical interference with other components (e.g., shocks, control arms, knuckles, wiring, hoses, etc.) of a vehicle outside of the caliper housing.